Chapter 62: Under the Heavenly Throne

  "Alien?" I furrowed my brow and took a few steps back, looking down at the crystal coffin.

  "Huh? What is this thing?" Although I had mentally prepared myself, I was still startled by the object in the coffin. In the crystal coffin, there was a strange skeleton. The skull was long and narrow with a protruding forehead, indeed somewhat resembling an alien from a low-budget foreign sci-fi movie. However, on top of the dry bones of its hands and feet were scales like those of animals, a jade three-peaked crown was embedded in its head, high-heeled boots with python patterns were on its feet, it was wrapped in a golden silk eight-trigrams Taoist robe, and its right hand grasped an unsheathed blood-red long sword.

  "What is this?" Jin Gang Cannon gazed at the strange skeleton in the coffin, its body had long since rotted away, leaving only a desolate skeleton.

  "People only become like this after they die." Although the corpse was strange, it still had a vague human shape. Moreover, I also observed that the silk cloud brocade at the bottom of the crystal coffin had obvious wrinkles, and the Taoist crown on top of the corpse's head was slightly askew, while the Taoist boots on its feet were already cracked open. Therefore, I judged that this corpse should have undergone some kind of mutation after death due to certain reasons.

  "This one's mine!" Jin Gang Pao grasped the blood-colored long sword in the coffin with one hand and pulled it out. The sword body was narrow and long, entirely blood red, and gave off a chilling aura that oppressed people. Jin Gang Pao swung it several times with momentum, and a cold wind suddenly rose, causing the temperature to drop rapidly, making everyone feel as if they had fallen into an icy cave in an instant.

  "Good stuff!" The sound of the Golden Cannon had just fallen, and the clanging sound of the backpack came from behind. I turned my head to take a look, and found that Gan Jiang had already come out of its scabbard unnoticed. The yang energy suddenly surged, suppressing the yin cold air beside me.

  Divine soldiers are omnipotent, this is indeed true!

  I nodded at Jin Gang Cannon, and he put the Blood Sword back into its scabbard, only then stopping its humming as it automatically returned to its sheath.

  I stared at the Golden Gun, and we were both stunned by a scene that was previously unbelievable. It's not surprising for animals to fight fiercely, but it's our first time seeing two treasured swords clashing with each other. Judging from the situation earlier, it's clear that Qiang Jian is still one step ahead.

  I grasped the Blood Red Long Sword from the hand of Jin Gang Cannon, took a few steps back, and drew out the sword's edge. "Dusk Blood" was also an ancient seal. I pinched my fingers to observe the aura, and a cold air surrounded me. The sword waves flowed like water, not like an ordinary object.

  "This sword is called Dusk Blood, its origin is unclear, go out and find a library to check it out later, you use it first. Don't use it to chop stones again, good swords aren't used for that." I tossed the Dusk Blood in my hand to Jin Gang Pao, and reminded him of a few things.

  Jin Gang was overjoyed, although he didn't understand swords, but the chill of Wu Xue's sword aura he had experienced before, and knew it wasn't an ordinary object.

  "Lao Yu, look at this outfit, it's so cool. I think you can wear it, let me get it for you." Jin Gang was in a great mood and started searching around to see if he could find something for me too.

  "I don't want the dead to pass through." I walked to the right side of the tomb to see the golden hamster, and when it saw me approaching, it opened its eyes and nodded. Seeing that it was unharmed, I felt a lot more at ease.

  "What's with his bones?" Jin Gang Pao didn't listen to me and continued to strip the dead man's clothes in the coffin.

  I turned my head and saw that Jin Gang Cannon was holding a piece of Taoist robe in his hand, with a crystal coffin. I quickly stepped forward and looked down at the crystal coffin, only to see that the Taoist robe on top of the corpse had been torn apart by Jin Gang Cannon, revealing the skeletal chest cavity, which surprisingly had ribs connected together, similar to those of certain snake-like creatures.

  "It's probably related to the harmony of yin and yang here, as this place is located on the Kunlun Dragon Veins. Legend has it that Mount Kunlun is where the gods reside, as the saying goes 'How can one sleep soundly beside a divine being?' This dead cow nose ordered his disciples to secretly bury him here, attempting to use the dragon energy of Kunlun to become immortal through corpse transformation. However, he made a huge mistake." I bowed my head, took two deep puffs on my cigarette "That is, this blessed land and sacred cave didn't belong to him in the first place. His fortune was too shallow, his life too short-lived, which is why his corpse underwent beast transformation!"

  "Who does it belong to if it doesn't belong to him?" Jin Gang Pao curiously asked back.

  "It must be it!" I pointed to the golden hamster lying on one side of the tomb. "This hamster has been practicing for many years, and when the wind was blowing, it had already made great progress. The wind even described it as 'like a fairy', which shows that its Taoist practice is very deep. After more than 100 years, those Taoist priests from the Tang Dynasty came to disturb it, but it didn't fight back. Instead, it let them bully it until it was half dead. That's why it's the one with great virtue and good fortune. This piece of land where yin and yang coexist can only be enjoyed by it."

  "But it eats tigers!" Jin Gang Cannon expressed skepticism about my inference.

  "Lock you up for a few hundred years, don't mention tigers, even mice you'd eat." I retorted irritably.

  "That group of Taoists are powerful enough to summon heavenly thunder, it's possible that it's not that they don't want to resist, but rather they can't resist." Jin Gang cannon muttered in a low voice.

  "What's wrong with you today, always picking a fight with me? Even inviting Chen Wenyu was turned into a fuss about the Supreme Taoist Scripture. Recite our Thunderbolt True Words for me." I'm getting a bit angry.

  "Notify Ling Xiao, the evil spirit is haunting the world. The case is clear and obvious, the Thunder God will punish the evil. Chen Wenyu quickly accepts the order, the Great Supreme Taoist Lord urgently issues a decree as if it were a law." The Diamond Cannon has made great progress now, and I have also memorized the true words of the 13-posture Qi-gathering method.

  "They see no one, the Thunder God Chen Gong in their mouths, when he came to our sect, he was called by his name directly, as long as there are people who can invite the heavenly thunder with spells and incantations, they are everywhere." I turned around and wanted to leave.

  "Please, Lei, you're not afraid of death." Jīn Gāng Pào added with a smile. Last time I rashly used the Thunderbolt Technique and almost lost my life on the spot, Jīn Gāng Pào took the opportunity to mock me.

  "Lao Yu, are you leaving just like that?" Jin Gang Pao saw me and Bai Lang walking towards the hole dug by the mouse, and pulled Mu Rong Zhui Feng to follow.

  "You're welcome to stay here for a few days if you'd like, anyway I have to go out, people who stay here too long become the thing in the coffin." I turned to the mouse "Your cultivation is not easy, later you must widely accumulate good karma, things that fill your belly should avoid the flow of evil, take care of yourself."

  The crouching rabbit-like creature suddenly opened its eyes, stood up and quickly jumped to our front, then knelt down and kept kowtowing.

  "The followers of the sect are not bound by worldly etiquette, and they cherish it." Seeing this mouse so aware of kindness and virtue, I am deeply comforted.

  "Hoo~~~" The groundhog heard my words, and suddenly let out a loud cry, darting into the hole it had dug earlier, as if to lead the way for us.

  "Old Yu ah, this mouse is too sensible, unfortunately I don't know what its name is." The tunnel was not spacious, we could only move forward with our waists bent.

  "What's its name? You give it one then." Looking at the faint light appearing in front of me, I'm in a great mood.

  "This is easy, I'm best at naming things, let me think... " Jin Gang pinched the few whiskers on his chin. "You changed my Rivet Gun to Turtle Cannon, you're really good at this." I joked. Suddenly lowering my head, I found that there was freshly dug soil and dripping blood on the ground of the tunnel, and my heart ached, unable to laugh anymore.

  "It's a yellow weasel, its fur is yellow, let's just call it the Yellow Weasel, how about that?" Jin Gang Pao finally managed to come up with a name he thought was fitting.

  "Huang Shu mouse, Huang Si Shu? Grass, why don't you call it Fourth Master." I gave him a cold stare.

  After walking with bowed heads for over ten minutes, the group finally emerged from the tunnel and returned to the ground. The exit was located at the foot of a steep cliff in the due north, where it was still snowing outside.

  "Hurry back, take care!" I said to the mouse standing beside me, looking around cautiously. In order to dig out the sandstone blocks that had accumulated in the cave for years, its shoulder wound had cracked open and was slowly dripping blood.

  Upon hearing my words, the rat-kangaroo knelt down again and knocked its head to the ground as a sign of respect, then turned around and scurried back into the hole.

  "Bye bye, we'll come back and visit you again when we have time!"

  "Woof woof~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"

  I stand at the foot of the mountain, looking around to the left and right, and find that the back of the mountain peak where the marmot lives is a steep cliff, with clouds and mist swirling around the top, making it difficult for birds and monkeys to climb. The mountains on both sides are deep gorges, and the sound of rushing river water comes from the bottom of the gorge.

  I turned around and saw Murong Chuiyun biting into a snowball, sucking the snow water. She didn't lie to us, Huang Fu Dong Tian is indeed the only way out!

  I lit a cigarette and took out the map from my pocket to compare it with the mountain range in front of me, but after careful observation, I didn't find the third breath marked on the map by Hanshu.

  On the map, after passing through black and yellow, there is also a blue breath marked, which should be less than 100 miles away. The road is referred to as "Tongtianzuo Xizhuo, demoted Qinghu Zi to blue."

  "Lao Yu, where are you going?" Jin Gang rubbed his frozen, bright red hands.

  "We should head forward, the breath on the map can't be seen now." I put away the map and step forward.

  "Grass, you say 'should' and I know you're lost again." Jin Gang muttered as he followed behind. He really understood me, every time I wasn't sure, I would say "should", just a few days ago, his "should"s had led us astray many times.

  A group of travelers walked from noon to midnight but couldn't find a place to rest. The snow stopped in the evening, but the wind grew stronger. It blew so hard that we couldn't tell east from west and every step was difficult.

  "Old man, I can't move anymore." Jin Gang Pao leaned against a big tree and weakly shouted to me.

  "Your physical strength is no better than a woman's." I pointed at Mu Rong Zhui Feng who was walking slowly in front of us.

  "She didn't bring anything" Jin Gang pao was really tired and hummed as he wanted to sit down.

  "I can carry it on my back, why are you so tired?" I pointed at the backpack behind me.

  "Hurry up and get down, you've been playing tricks on me from the start. I'm carrying all the equipment, not a single thing is missing. But you're in a good situation, carrying all the food and drink, getting lighter as you go." Jin Gang Pao finally found an excuse.

  "Come on, stop pretending, I can carry this easily, it's all thanks to you." I pulled him up with one hand. Along the way, Jin Gang Cannon's appetite was enough for the two of us, and he consumed the most dry rations and water.

  "Hurry up and let's go, see if we can find a place to take shelter from the wind and build a fire. We can roast that half-dead raccoon dog too. If you stay here for a while, you'll freeze to death." I finally managed to intimidate and entice Jīn Gāng Pào into following the group.

  "Lao Yu, in another month it'll be Chinese New Year, do you miss home?" Jin Gang Pao was frozen stiff and started to think of home.

  "I don't want to." I was 24 at the time, Jin Gang was 25, and in my parents' eyes, I was still a big kid. It's natural to miss home, but I didn't dare admit it, pretending to be tough.

  "Heavens have eyes!" Jin Gang Pao didn't catch my drift and suddenly took off in a sprint.

  I looked up and saw that the tank was heading towards a nearby hill with a small cave in it.

  I pulled Mu Rong Zhui Feng, calling out to Bai Lang as we approached the small hill cave near the mound. Jin Gang Pao was shouting and waving a wooden stick to drive out a group of yellow mongooses "Sorry about that, you guys can find another den to go to..."

  The white wolf saw the prey and rushed forward to prepare for capture, but suddenly stopped moving, tilted its head and looked at it for a while before running back to my side. This guy caught a yellow weasel on his first hunt and almost got suffocated by its fart, so in his memory, this long-tailed little animal is not easy to mess with.

  As I approached, I found that the cave was indeed a bit small, only a few steps deep and shallow. Not only was it low and short, but it also had a strong musty smell. However, it didn't matter anymore, as long as it could block the wind.

  Put down the backpack, pick up firewood, roast meat with hot water, and finally catch breath after a while.

  "Let's toast to the bright moon, what was the second half of that sentence again?" Jin Gang Pao asked me, holding a bottle of white wine.

  "Three people are reflected in the shadow. But where is your bright moon?" I replied with a handful of rabbit meat, today is the first day of the twelfth lunar month, what moon is there?

  "The bright moon is in my heart..." The Golden Gun warmed up and felt great.

  After a brief commotion, the exhausted crowd soon fell asleep after eating and drinking their fill.

  A woman's voice came from beside his ear, "Yu Chengfeng..."

  I opened my eyes in a daze and saw a figure standing in front of me. "Who is it?"

  "I am Murong Zhui Feng!"